PASADENA, CALIF.: Boston Court Pasadena will host free readings of three new works in progress at the 19th annual New Play Reading Festival on April 29 and 30. The event will feature plays by Tira Palmquist, Austin Owens Kelly, and Vasanti Saxena.

The first reading will be held on April 29 at 12 p.m. Directed by Jessica Kubzansky, Tira Palmquist’s The Body’s Midnight follows Anne and her husband David as they embark on the perfect American road trip, determined to put a troubling diagnosis in the rearview mirror. Bearing witness to the beauty of things, even as they disappear, Ann and David struggle to come to terms with the unexpected and unavoidable journey of their lives.​

Next is a reading of Austin Owens Kelly’s Obscura, directed by Michael Michetti, on April 30 at 11 a.m. Obscura is focused on Finch Montgomery’s photography exhibition, which begins as a series of photos capturing a week long family gathering at their childhood home in Elmhurst, Ill., and turns into an exploration of death and the intricacies and complexities of familial relationships and secrets.

On April 30 at 2:30 p.m., the festival will present a reading of Vasanti Saxena’s Here is Where, directed by Katherine Chou. The play is set during the aftermath of 9/11, when two sisters receive an unexpected package that brings them to the intersection of their uncertain present and their grandmother’s past in wartime Nanjing.

Festival tickets are free, but reservations are required and space is limited.

Boston Court Pasadena is a nonprofit contemporary music & performing arts center located in Pasadena, Calif., focusing on new play development. Boston Court seeks to create and nurture innovative, boundary-pushing art that invokes the power of collective imagination to illuminate our common humanity.